THOR (2011) (a review)

THOR (2011) (a review)

This is the latest in movies from Marvel Studios, the feature film division of Marvel Comics. THOR is one of Marvel's oldest heroes and this movie, with Iron Man and the upcoming Captain America is part of the build up to THE AVENGERS. Stars Chris Helmsworth (who had a small part in the STAR TREK movie) and Natalie Portman, Anthony Hopkins. It is directed by Kenneth Branagh.

The story: Thor, a Norse God, is the son of Odin and in line to rule Asgard. However, when his crowning ceremony is interrupted by frost giants, he and his friends set out to wage war against them and question the frost giant king about who is responsible. His father tells him not to do it, but he does it anyway, getting into a giant battle and almost starting a war. For his arrogance, Odin strips him of his godhood and his hammer and exiles him to Earth. On Earth, he is found by an astrophysicist (Natalie Portman) and together they try to retrieve his hammer, which now can only be wielded by someone worthy. In Asgard, Odin falls into a sleep and Thor's wicked half brother, Loki, takes the throne. He is also responsible for the frost giants interrupting the ceremony. While Thor's friends go to earth to help him return to Asgard, Loki sends a robot after them. Thor offers himself in sacrifice to save his friends, which makes him worthy of the hammer of Thor and now he is able to defeat the robot and goes back to face Loki and save Asgard.

Was it good?

Kind of. There is a lot of fun here. What really works is the Asgard stuff and fighting the frost giants and the rivalry between the two brothers. What doesn't really work is the relationship between Thor and the astrophysicist (ZERO CHEMISTRY!) and the parts of Thor wandering around on earth. In Asgard, in full armor, he looks kind of god-ish, but on earth he is just a guy in flannel and it's hard to take seriously. Also the whole "being worthy" is pretty lame and random. When he went to fight the frost giants he wasn't worthy, but if he offers himself up as a sacrifice that is worthy? Why? I guess it's something about war being bad, but it's not really explained. Luckily, we've seen lots of this kind of stuff in other (better) movies that did it better, so you can fill in the gaps even if the movie doesn't do a good job of it. What also becomes muddled is the rivalry between Thor and Loki. You see, it turns out Loki isn't just pure evil. He's kind of like Doctor Octopus in SPIDER-MAN 2, except here none of his story really makes sense.

All in all, while there is a lot of good here, there is a lot to be disappointed by as well. I was hoping with Kenneth Branagh (a brilliant Shakespearean actor) that he would realize the rivalry between Thor and Loki is much like the rivalry between Othello and Iago in OTHELLO and he would push the story like that. But instead, the story comes off very light (way too jokey for me tastes) with very little emotional bite. Certainly there's nothing here with the honest pain that is between Peter Parker and Mary Jane. And without some bite, it comes off and fun but forgettable.

I also don't get why Loki attacks them with a giant robot. How is that Norse???

Still I would recommend it, just for some of the early spectacle and there's enough here that I have hope for the AVENGERS and THOR 2.

*** RECOMMEND ***